A defiant rebel to the end

HIDING from Australian soldiers in the mountains of East Timor
last year, Alfredo Reinado (pictured) defiantly declared that he
was not afraid to die for his cause.

"They can get my dead body but not my soul," he boasted.

The charismatic rebel leader knew his country, and his
countrymen, well. He insisted that he would not be captured alive -
and yesterday he was proved right.

The 42-year-old was killed as he led a pre-dawn ambush on the
home of President Jose Ramos Horta.

The gunfight ended a charmed run, in which he had successively
escaped slavery to the Indonesian military, absconded from jail,
and evaded capture by Australian troops.

Born in Aileu, in East Timor's west in 1966, Alfredo Alves
Reinado's life was a microcosm of the torturous history of his
nation.

In 1976, invading Indonesian troops forced his family
southwards, to Turiscai. At the age of 11, Reinado was taken away
by the Indonesian military, and forced to work as a porter to an
officer. He witnessed unspeakable acts of brutality, seeing other
boys shot for insubordination, women raped and entire families
beaten to death.

Taken to Indonesia, he escaped back to East Timor, before
sailing, as captain of a boat with 18 people on board, to Australia
in 1995.

He worked in West Australian shipyards for four years, returning
to his homeland only after the 1999 referendum that granted East
Timor independence.

His experience with ships was recognised by the superiors of the
country's fledgling defence forces, and he was put in charge of
East Timor's two patrol-boat navy, based at Hera.

A demotion followed, but after a stint at the Australian Defence
Force Academy in Canberra he was made commander of a new 33-strong
military police platoon.

But the fractious nature of post-independence East Timor was
ever-present.

There were allegations that eastern-born army commanders were
biased against western-born soldiers, and these allegations were
exacerbated by complaints of poor pay and conditions.

A third of East Timor's 1500-strong defence force went on strike
in February 2006. But it was only in April, when pro-government
troops fired on demonstrating soldiers and civilian supporters,
that Reinado, believing the order to open fire came from the Prime
Minister's office, decided to strike, too.

On May 4 Reinado joined the rebels, taking with him 24 police
and two truckloads of weapons and ammunition. The revolt of the
"petitioners", as they called themselves, sparked widespread unrest
and violence, leaving 37 dead and driving 100,000 from their
homes.

Reinado fled to the hills outside Dili, and, helped by a network
of supporters, established a hilltop base and lines of
communication with those in the capital.

Captured by Portuguese and Australian troops in July and charged
with illegally possessing weapons, Reinado refused to sign his
arrest papers. He remained unco-operative as his charges were
upgraded to include eight counts of murder.

Then in August, he led more than 50 prisoners in a daring
jailbreak, in which they tore down a wall of Dili's main
prison.

Australian soldiers went after him, but, despite the efforts of
troops including several close-quarter gunbattles, Reinado escaped
capture.

Xanana Gusmao had offered Reinado a final chance to give himself
up. "Don't play with me, because sooner or later I will get angry,"
he said.